FONTMELL (MAGNA), a parish in that part of the hundred of SIXPENNY-HANDLEY which is in the Shaston (West) division of the county of DORSET, 4¼ miles (S.) from Shaftesbury, coutaining, with the tything of Hartgrove, 733 inhabitants.

The living is a vicarage with the curacy of West Orchard, in the archdeaconry of Dorset, and diocese of Bristol, rated in the king's books at £7. 10.: the prebend, or rectory, to which the vicarage is united, is rated at £18. Mrs. Salkeld was patroness in 1819. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is chiefly in the later English style. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists.

Volume 2, page 191